Dhambalin
Dhambalin is the name of a rock badger from sandstone in the region Togdheer in northern Somalia ( Somaliland ) in which 2,007 cave paintings were discovered. In addition to depictions of people, cattle, goats and wild animals, these paintings include the earliest known depictions of sheep in Somalia.
Location and discovery
The nearest town is Beenyo Dhaadheer , a small rural settlement around 60 kilometers east of the port city of Berbera . Beenyo Dhaadheer residents pointed out a dhambalin near their location to Somali archaeologist Sada Mire - director of the Department of Archeology within the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Somaliland . This name means "half, vertically cut mountain" and describes the shape of the rock.
The lower part of the rock is covered with sand. The sandstone is fragile and corroded . Due to wind erosion and the porosity of the rock, parts of it have broken off. Remains of paintings can also be seen on this rubble.
Cave paintings
The paintings cover an area around four meters high and 12 meters wide and belong to several layers. They are assigned to the Ethiopian-Arabic style, which is carefully dated to between 5000 and 3000 Before Present and which also includes the cave paintings by Karin Heegan and Laas Geel . There are also similarities to the rock carvings in Jilib Rihin and Haadh , which Sada Mire also found in the Togdheer region in 2007.
Eight to ten people are shown, mostly as part of hunting scenes with bows and arrows and surrounded by wild animals. One of the hunters is shown with his hair down, with headwear and accompanied by two dogs. Another hunter is sitting on an animal, possibly a horse. Two human figures are clearly male and have their arms outstretched. A human-like figure is painted in white and with a large head compared to the torso, it could represent a child. Compared to the animal pictures, the people are painted less lifelike and precisely.
Most of the animals are shown in profile. There are at least eight giraffes in different colors, a turtle, antelopes, lions, snakes, baboon- like animals and a wild cat.
14 sheep are clearly recognizable as such with their typical trunk shape, head and nose and thin legs. Three of them are painted in red with a white belt around the belly, while the remaining eleven are white with red decorative elements. In contrast to the sheep ( Somali sheep ) kept in the region today , they have no black heads.
Cattle are shown in different colors and sizes, but mostly as cows with full udders and sometimes accompanied by calves. At least one is clearly a bull, and two others could also be bulls. Most have small or no necks, some are headless. A single cattle figure has a large neck.
At least five goats are also shown.
swell
- Sada Mire: The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland , in: African Archaeological Review, Vol. 25, No. 3-4, December 2008, doi: 10.1007 / s10437-008-9032-2 .